The Sky Pirates of Zero
by Malignent
Summary: Am entire ship full of commoners? The zero could never do such a thing! But when she does, what could be the repercussions of pirates from a different universe being brought to her lands of Halkeginia? Their world being so similar yet so much different then theirs, what things, both good and bad could they have brought with them? M for language, Graphic and suggestive themes.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Edmund stumbled to the captain's cabin as another explosion rocked the ship. All around him crew members were rushing about, most were manning the cannon's. Edmund entered the captain's cabin and found the Captain sitting with his feet up on the desk surrounded by trinkets and treasures. He was fiddling with a miniature ship inside of a glass bottle.

"Ahh, Edmund my boy." The captain said as he adjusted the sails on the small ship "How's your day been?"

Edmund was over three times the Captain's age and did not like being referred to as 'boy'. Before he could make his objections known the ship was rocked by another blast. Edmund stumbled along with half the captain's collectibles. The captain simply held the ship-in-a-bottle with one hand and tinkered with the other.

"Captain!" Edmund said regaining his posture "The regulars are gaining on us, we need a plan!"

"Plan's are boring." the captain said as he nudged the sail in just the right place "I like to improvise."

"Sir the lives of the entire crew are at stake here!"

The captain simply slid the bottle off the side of his desk. It crashed on the floor spilling broken bits of ship everywhere. Edmund watched as the captain stood, grabbed a bottle of ale, and walked past him out onto the deck.

The captain calmly walked across the deck as the crew rushed to put out several fires and carry the wounded lower into the ship out of the line of fire. The captain took sevral swigs of ale as Edmund rushed to catch up. The captain stood at the front of his ship and took another swig.

"How many are following?" the captain said when he finished

"An entire fleet ranging from thirty to fifty" Edmund said catching his breath

"So we have a large Regular fleet rapidly approaching with half the cannons out of commission and no escape plan" the captain turned back to Edmund with a cocky grin "Goddamn I love a challenge"

"How do you plan on getting out of this one sir?" Edmund asked

"Oh come on!" The captain said spreading his arms wide "If you ignore the bad things you'd see that we have the Swyven, our client is still in one piece, and we've had way less casualties than I expected."

"And on the other side of things we're all about to die" Edmund said with a sense hopelessness

"Captain!"

Edmund and the captain turned to see private Williams looking through a telescope.

"There seems to be a large green floating circle directly ahead of us" Williams said

"Give me that!" the captain said before tearing the telescope from his grasp and looking through it. Sure enough there was a swirling green vortex hovering completely out of place, and the ship was set directly on course for it. The captain thought it looked similar to those mystical portals that he'd read about as a child.

He gave a happy sigh before tossing the telescope back to Williams and pointing to the crewman who was currently piloting the ship.

"Set course for the portal" the captain yelled "we're going in!"

"Are you mad?!" Edmund cried

"On multiple accounts I've been labeled as such yes" the captain replied

"We don't know if it's some kind of trap or-or just some optical illusion" Edmund argued

"Eddy my friend" the captain said as he looked off into the sunset "sometimes you just have to take risks in life."

Edmund grabbed the captain by the collar "You're risking the lives of everyone on this ship" Edmund said desperately "could you really live with yourself if you let this go wrong!?"

"Well if it goes wrong I won't exactly be 'living' eddy my boy" the captain said before bursting out in laughter

Edmund sighed in defeat as they approached the portal. Suddenly the trapdoor leading to the depths of the ship burst open, half the crew's attention was drawn to the small animal that scurried out.

Edmund's eyes went wide "The Swyven!" he yelled "Stop it"

Several members of the crew began chasing the creature around the deck as they begun rapidly approaching the portal.

A large figure charged from below deck carrying a small cage "Gauldfre!" the captain yelled "Catch that thing before it does something drastic!"

The portal began pulling the ship faster and faster, as the front of the ship was swallowed by it Gauldfre dashed around the deck with immense speed as he tried to corner the Swyven. The captain couldn't help but close his eyes as he passed through the portal.

The first thing that he registered was the smoke, they were now sailing through a large cloud of smoke.

"hey what do you know" the captain said with a grin "we're not dead after all!"

He placed his fists on his hips as Edmund coughed up a storm beside him.

"Yes it would appear so" Edmund said with another fit of coughing.

"Just goes to show you what risk-"the Swyven darted past the captain cutting off the rest of his sentence. With a degree of horror the crew watched it charge off the side of the ship, and right into the arms of a seventeen year-old girl.

* * *

Louise had been wondering what would happen for the past week. It would be her big day, when she'd prove them all wrong and that she could cast a spell properly. When the explosion tore into existence it was like a needle had pierced her bubble of enthusiasm. As all of her peers coughed and hacked her hopes and dreams slowly leaked from her bubble. That all changed when the cat leaped into her arms. It was a feeling unlike any other for her, she'd actually done it. As the cat squirmed about in her arms Louise held it closer in fear that it would cease to exist taking her proof of magic with it.

As the smoke cloud receded the class saw the so-called 'Zero' holding on to the animal and were instantly struck with stunned silence.

It was Kirche von Zerbst who broke the silence "I knew it!" she said "I knew you'd never be able to summon a dragon which you bragged about yesterday!"

Her words of course ushered laughs from her classmates but she didn't care, they were half-hearted laughs at best. Louise knew that from this point on they'd never be able to call her a Zero again. She may not be as good at magic as them, but she could complete a spell. She'd just proven her right to nobility.

"Ms. Valliere" her teacher Professor Colbert said "If you'd please finish the summoning rite."

Louise could only turn and nod, Colbert seemed happy for her and with good reason as well. Louise began the chant while looking over her familiar Now that the smoke had cleared a bit Louise could see it more clearly. It wasn't just a simple old cat that was for sure, it's pupils were blue and it's fur was purple with orange highlights, it's ears were also much longer than a cat's. As Louise chanted she didn't notice the heavy footsteps coming from the slowly receding cloud of smoke. Her classmates, however, did.

The students all grew cautious as a large silhouette could be seen within the smoke cloud. Colbert grew defensive and prepared a spell as the figure grew closer and closer to Ms. Valliere. Louise had no sooner finished the spell and kissed her familiar when she felt it pulled away from her. She looked up in surprise as the smoke cleared revealing a giant holding her familiar as it squirmed in his grasp.

Louise stumbled back, where did that _thing_ come from?! The giant wore faded light-brown trousers and a torn vest of the same color. Though it's sudden appearance had shocked all of the spectators it wore one of the warmest smiles that any of them had seen. Besides the smile, the Giant's head was shiny smooth and it's eyes were closed as if he were dreaming. It also had immensely tanned skin.

Colbert inched his way closer to Louise trying to put himself in between the two of them. The giant turned his head to contemplate the familiar wriggling back in his grasp before gently raising his other hand which held a small cage. As the giant gently settled her familiar into the cage Louise was snapped out of her stupor.

"HEY!" she yelled to the giant as she struggled to get up "WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY FAMILIAR?!"

The giant didn't react at all as it slowly began walking back into the rapidly dissipating smoke cloud.

"Professor Colbert!" Louise yelled to her teacher "That _Thing _is taking my familiar!"

"Your familiar?" A new voice yelled a voice from above. As the cloud dissipated they all were shocked to see a **Massive** airship pulling itself out of a green portal in front of a nearby tower. Once the smoke cloud cleared they could see two small floating ships hovering a few yards behind the giant. There were about a dozen rugged looking men and women aboard each. On one there was a man dressed in a sailing coat and large captain's hat. He had beige pants and brown hair sticking out from the rims of his hat. He also seemed to be in his mid-twenties.

"I think you mean my pay out" the man said.

His ship lowered itself to the ground and he and two other men got out. One dressed in a stewards outfit with greying hair, the other looked like a regular cabin boy. The cabin boy instantly got on his knees and, to everyone's surprise, the man in the hat stood on him. With great struggle the cabin boy crawled towards Colbert and Louise while the captain stood proudly on his back.

Colbert's mind raced, this wasn't good in the slightest. The way these people dressed and acted, they were obviously pirates. With those ships and there numbers they'd be able to do significant damage before being stopped. His only consolidation was that they didn't seem hostile yet. Where had they come from? That green portal, could Louise have summoned them with her familiar? It would be deemed almost ridiculous if not for the fact that they seemed to be after it.

The cabin boy stopped several feet away from them and the man who could only be their captain stepped off. He stood with one hand on the hilt of his sword and a cocky smile plastered all over his face. Louise looked at him with contempt, Colbert looked at him with caution.

The Captain looked at them for a while before asking "Does anybody here have a map?"

Neither Louise nor her teacher had expected it.

Colbert shook off the confusion "What?" he asked

"A map, you know it's usually a bunch of pictures on paper that represent where places are" Said the Captain "I'm not completely familiar with this territory."

"FORGET THE MAP!" Louise yelled before walking up to the Captain trying to look as intimidating as possible "WHAT DO YOU AND YOUR GOONS THINK YOU'RE DOING WITH MY FAMILIAR?!"

"Yeah first of all, when you scream it's like listening to a cat sexually assault a dog" the Captain said shocking Louise into silence "Secondly I don't like pink haired kindergarteners getting in my face like untrained dogs."

"H-HOW DARE-"

"And to answer your question, one-with-bigmouth, that creature belongs to me and I don't like others trying to take my stuff"

Before Louise could blow up again Colbert nudged her out of the way in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

"Excuse me sir, but the creature in your possession was summoned by Ms. Valliere here and by the will of Brimir it is destined to serve as her familiar."

"That's impossible!" the steward said as he made his way over. "There's no possible way that it could of been summoned"

"Yeah because she can't use Magic!" One of the students piped up sending them into another round of laughter.

"Quiet down" Colbert yelled to them, knowing that this wasn't the time for petty mockeries. He turned to the old steward "What do you mean it's impossible"

"Because mages w-" The captain clamped a hand tightly over his mouth

"Wait a minute" Captain said with a questioning smile "Let me guess, you guys are all mages?"

"Yeah everyone but Louise the Zero!" yelled another classmate firing off another series of laughs

"Shut up!" Louise yelled back at them "I can use magic, I summoned a familiar!"

"Yeah and a boat full of commoners!"

"Children please!" Colbert yelled

"That's impossible" the steward said drawing attention to himself "All of your kind we-"

The steward was cut off by a sudden bout of laughter from the captain who clutched his sides in humorous agony.

"I-I see" he said between laughs "In that case, Gauldfre."

The giant turned it's head towards the Captain, though with his eyes closed it was hard to tell if he was actually giving his attention.

"Let the little girl have her kitty" The captain said

"Are you CRAZY?!" the steward yelled "WE WENT THROUGH HELL TO GET THAT THING!"

"Yeah but getting pulled into another universe seems to have nullified our contract with the client." The captain said before nodding to the giant, now known to be Gauldfre.

Gauldfre wordlessly sat the cage on the ground and opened the cage door. The familiar darted out, but before it could get far the Captain grabbed it by the scruff of it's neck and held it out for all to see.

"THIS, IS THE MYTHICAL SWYVEN!" yelled the Captain still grinning "AS YOU ARE NOBLES I FIND IT ONLY FAIR TO WARN YOU THAT THIS CREATURE COULD BE YOUR ULTIMATE DOWNFALL!"

The students, of course thought it the ravings of a mad commoner, but Colbert knew better. These people knew something dangerous, something that could be a danger to his students.

"Let me tell you right now that I enjoy bragging" the Captain said to Louise who looked at him in confusion, he tossed the Swyven into her arms before continuing "I expect hefty pay, appropriate treatments from you and any others you intend to associate with us, and a harem of young girls to follow me around proving to my crew that I am the dominant Alpha."

"Wha-?" Louise said before once again yelling at him "HOW DARE A COMMONER SUCH AS YOURSELF REQUEST SUCH THINGS FROM SOMEONE OF MY STATUS!"

"Sorry kid but you don't really have a choice in the matter" the Captain said as he gestured towards him and his crew

"Why not?!" Louise asked

"Sir" said Colbert "I'm going to have to ask you to stop making claims toward my student and for you all to gather your vessels and leave the school grounds immediately."

The Captain's grin turned into a smirk as he turned to see his crew who were looking at him with mixtures of worry, confusion, and expectance. The Captain turned back to Colbert and Louise before shrugging and removing his left glove. Colbert's eyes instantly widened as he recognized the runes on the back of his hand. It took Louise a while, but after looking at her familiar she let out a shocked squeak.

They both had the exact same runes.

"Judging from your expressions I'm sure you know where I'm going with this" said the Captain before turning back to the crew "Gloves off people."

The crewmen looked at each other before slowly removing their gloves, most reacted with shock finding the runes scarred into their hands as well. Gauldfre simply stared at the runes with his unchanging expression of non-caring happiness. The steward looked at his runes with both angered confusion and wonder.

"Captain, how could this have happened?" the steward asked, still recovering from shock

"Simple, obviously the mage-in-training summoned us here as well" said the Captain "and by claiming the Swyven she also claimed everything else she brought through"

"You're taking this surprisingly well" the Steward said flatly

"Don't you see Edmund" the captain said before pulling out some dark glasses "VACATION!"

The crew looked at each other as their Captain began listing a list of vacation plans.

"Cruising along the ocean without getting shot at. Cruising along the skies without getting shot at."the Captain laughed again "Walking into a bar without getting shot at and enjoying the company of the ladies.

"And all will come out of the savings of our generous new master" he said pointing a thumb towards Louise.

"NOW HOLD ON!" Louise yelled "Even if I did summon you guys, I will NOT pay for a bunch of worthless commoners to go partying."

"ok then we'll be leaving to go pillage some stuff" the Captain said sounding sure of himself before turning to leave

"Sir" the steward named Edmund grabbed the Captain by the shoulder and whispered something to him. Immediately the Captain spun around.

"Ok new plan!" He said before turning "Edmund, Gauldfre and Private Williams will keep the pink haired poodle from getting herself killed and I shall go inform the rest of the crew."

"Wha-" Louise managed to get out before the Captain spun on his heels and ran back to his ship. It floated up to the other one, which was still floating in place. The two ships then took off for the airship.

"GAULDFRE, EDMUND!" the Captain yelled down "DON'T DESTROY THE PLACE!"

The Giant, Edmund and the cabin boy now known as Williams turned to look at Louise.

The students began whispering about paid pirates and painted cats, obviously not convinced Louise summoned anything at all.

"Professor Colbert!" Louise cried turning to her teacher "You're not going to just let these commoners follow me around are you!?"

"I'm sorry Louise but they've been marked as your familiars" Colbert said as he took a closer look at the runes on the 'Swyven' "They've got every right to be concerned about your safety"

"But I've never heard of summoning humans before!" she replied

"I'm sorry but your going to have to find a way for it to work." Colbert said

"Yeah maybe she can get used to the commoners, she is one after all!" a blonde girl with weird curly hair yelled starting up the swarm of laughter once more.

"My dear Montmorency" said the blonde boy next to her "Give the Zero a break, she seems to be embarrassed enough."

"SHUT UP!" Louise cried "I'M NOT A ZERO!"

Colbert's eyes narrowed, these runes seemed strange. He hadn't seen ones like these before. He'd have to look this up when he has the time. And he'd have to talk with that captain about the large war-ship floating around a school full of children.

"The springtime Summoning is complete, please make way to your dorms so the next class may proceed." Colbert said and slowly the other students began to fly off towards their rooms, most giggling at Louise's expense.

Once everyone but Louise had left Edmund decided to speak "Shouldn't we be going as well _Master._" he said stretching the last word.

"Listen up" Louise said as she turned to them "if you guys want to follow me then your going to have to follow my orers and do exactly as I say!"

"Where is your room located?" he asked ignoring her previous words.

"Are you listening to me?!"

"Not at all."

Louise fumed, the commoners weren't seeing her as their better. She'd have to fix that soon, but first she'd have to get them out of sight, She didn't want people thinking she couldn't control them, they were her Familiars after all!

Louise pointed to the female dorms, specifically her room "There" she said

Edmund looked at Gauldfre and nodded, the giant walked over and picked up Louise.

"Wha-What do you think you're doing?!" she struggled a bit as the giant placed her on his shoulders and began walking towards the female dorms "I can walk fine on my own!"

Edmund put on a look of shock "But master, shouldn't the _lowly servants_ keep their _dear master _from overexerting herself?" he said

Louise didn't know if walking counted as over-exertion, the dorms weren't even that far away, but she did like how her familiars were beginning to learn their places.

**...**

"Everyone!" the captain said "If I could please have your attention!"

He was standing on an elevated platform overlooking the mess hall where several hundred crewmates were eating, at the sound of his voice they all turned to look at him.

"As you may know, we aren't in Milgrash anymore." he said "We have been summoned to another universe which from the looks of it , is about thirteen years in the past compared to our timeline."

The crew began whispering to one another.

"Now you may have noticed the strange marks on your hands" he received many nods and some even checked their hands "Those are the Familiar Runes, we were summoned to be Familiars to a young Mage."

One of the crew stood "BULLSHIT WE WERE!" he yelled as a chorus of angered voices started up.

"People people, calm yourselves" the Captain said gesturing for them to compose themselves "I have no intention of letting them turn us into a bunch of slaves. But this does mean that there's a high chance of us not being able to go home to our own universe, so we must learn as much as we can about this new world."

The crew slowly calmed down as they looked to their Captain.

"I'm going to have several groups of you guys infiltrate the local villages to gather intelligence on the state of this world's politics, blend in with crowd and try to stay as anonymous as possible." the Captain made sure to talk loudly for the ones in back "Several more groups will go search for a place to colonize and make into a base of operations."

The crew nodded to each other as they began to acknowledge how profitable this could be.

"Report to your Cabin masters for briefing and supplies, we're going to make a LOT of money off this place."

That caused the crew to whoop and holler, practically smelling the money.

"One more thing" the Captain said as they grew quiet "In this universe the war hasn't happened, so that means there are many mages around."

That stunned the crew into silence.

"If you encounter mages, flatter their egos." said the Captain "If they try to stop you from completing your missions you know what to do."

Silent nods as the crew thought of the years to come.

**...**

"I expected it to be a bit bigger" private Williams said as he looked around Louise's room.

"Get used to it Private" Edmund said as he dragged a chair over to the window and stared out.

Louise was trying to calm herself, familiars or not these guys were making themselves at home without even a word of thanks! She suddenly realized the absence of one and she turned to see the Giant standing outside her doorway. she realized quickly that he was simply to big to fit into the tiny doorway. In the end he relented to just sitting against the wall directly opposite to her door, and he still had that sublime smile on his face. Louise closed her door before turning to the other commoners. Edmund was staring out the window ever so quietly. His expression frozen as he took in the environment. Private Williams was nervously whistling a tune quite horribly.

Louise sighed, was this really what she had to put up with. Why couldn't she have simply summoned the cat only? Right now the cat was napping on Louise's bed, she'd have to teach it to use the bed of hay next to it. Louise's attention was drawn back to the commoners, Edmund hadn't moved an inch and Williams was looking around while patting his hands together behind his back. They could at least make themselves useful.

"Familiars!" Louise yelled to them, Edmund stood still as a statue as his eyes looked back at her with indifference while Williams patted himself down trying to look presentable "Take my laundry outside and wash it."

With this Louise gathered a pile of laundry and tossed it at Williams who struggled not to drop any of it, Williams instantly looked to Edmund for assistance.

"You heard her private." Edmund said returning his gaze out the window. Williams sighed before making his way towards the door.

"Hold up!" Louise said before removing and tossing her current articles of clothing onto the pile. Williams tried to keep most of his face buried in the pile of clothes while his face turned deep red. When she was done he quickly stumbled outside.

"And you!" she said pointing at Edmund as she stood shamelessly in the buff "Wake me up early for breakfast!"

Edmund merely sighed _"Nobles and their shameless ways."_ he thought as Louise searched for her nightgown.

Outside Gauldfre instantly took notice of Williams' plight and quickly took the bundle of clothing from him.

"Thank you very much sir!" Williams said as he relaxed his arms "I don't think I could've made it all the way."

Williams gestured for Gauldfre to follow and together they made their way down the tower.

"Dear Katie, I'd love to sample one of your soufflés sometime."

Gauldfre and Williams came across two students who from the looks of things seemed very distracted. One of them was that blonde boy Williams remembered from earlier, he seemed to be 'wooing' the brown haired girl. Among seeing Gauldfre Katie's eyes grew wide and she covered her mouth while backing away. The blonde boy quickly turned, among seeing them he relaxed and grew a cocky smile.

"No worries sweet Katie, it's just the Zero's Familiars" he said "They couldn't hurt a fly."

"Are you sure Lord Guiche?" Katie asked still tossing fearful glances toward the giant

As Guiche calmed Katie down with more pretty-boy exaggerations Williams scooted over to Gauldfre "Hey, let's beat it before they want us to kneel or something." he whispered. Gauldfre nodded and they continued on their way.

**...**

"Hey," the Captain said as he stared at the figure sitting across from him "Clockwork...How you doing buddy?"

Clockwork was dressed in a long brown coat that was buttoned all the way up to his nose. He wore large brownish colored goggles, and a large Top hat with several gears built into it. There were large clumps of filthy hair sticking out in-between his goggles and his hat.

"**_I_**_ FEEL _**WON_DER_FUL **CAPTAIN" Clockwork said in a variety of different voices, Clockwork had some sort of voice thinger-ma-jig on him that allowed him to record and save words people are saying. Usually when he's not mimicking someone Clockwork would speak in an eerie jumble of different voices. In all his time the Captain didn't know what Clockwork's real voice sounded like.

Clockwork continues "HOW _gOEs **THE**__MISSION?"_

The Captain took a look around him, this room looked like an interrogation chamber, it worried him that Clockwork was actually _living _in this place "Well we seem to have run into trouble." the Captain said humorously "We've been sucked into an alternate universe and marked as familiars for a young mage."

The Captain didn't dare say the rest, he wanted to keep the client in the highest of spirits after all. Clockwork folded his arms on the table, he was wearing light metal gloves.

"**I** _SEE_..." Clockwork went silent for a bit "**Is _the_ _Swyven_** still _in_ **our** custody?"

"Yes actually" the Captain said as he leaned back "It's currently in the Mage's possession but I've got guys with her. These fools don't even know what it can do, I doubt they'd try to hide or destroy it."

**"GOOD..." **Clockwork said with a sigh of relief "_**...CAPTAIN, **I'D LIKE A MINUTE TO** MYSELF"**_

"Of course buddy." the Captain said before walking over to the door and opening it, he looked back "and remember, getting sucked into another world could be very difficult for a person. If you ever need to talk about something or just need a friend, I hope you'll come to me for assistance okay champ?"

Clockwork just sighed, "**Yes** _Captain_"

And with that, the Captain exited the bare room. The captain sighed, it'll take a lot of hard work to create a lucrative set up in this universe. He regained his cocky posture and skipped playfully to the stairwell. He planned to play with the little one a bit before retiring to his bed chambers for the night.

**...**

When Siesta had seen the boy's pitiful excuse for laundry cleaning she knew she had to help. She quickly walked over to him and greeted him with a smile "Hello there, do you need any help?" She asked.

"Oh that would be much appreciated miss, thank you." he said and she quickly taught and demonstrated how to properly clean the clothes as the boy watched. After the lesson, Siesta was relieved to find that the boy was now washing the clothes _without_ straining the fabric.

"Thanks again for taking the time to help me out again lady, to tell you the truth my pal had gone to look for help not long before you showed up" the boy sighed "Neither of us were really confident in our cleaning abilities."

"Oh I'm happy to help," Siesta said with a smile before asking "You wouldn't happen to be one of Miss Valliere's familiars would you?"

"Is it that obvious?" the boy asked curiously

"No, but this is Miss Valliere's clothing isn't it?" Siesta asked, not many girls here had undergarments this size.

"Well you caught me," the boy said "is it really a big deal?"

Despite the fact the that she had summoned an entire warship fully armed and manned, no it wasn't that big of a deal. The entire staff had been talking about the airship that had been circling the academy. Rumors had spread ranging from a noble flaunting their military support to the academy coming under assault by plunderers. Before Siesta could mention this to the boy she suddenly became aware of the presence behind her, the boy noticed them as well and smiled at them.

"Oh, Gauldfre you're back." the boy said before looking back at Siesta "This is that friend I was telling you about."

True to her polite nature Siesta quickly turned to greet Gauldfre, only to come face to face with a giant. She'd heard that a giant was among them, but she really had been doubting them till coming face to lower chest with one. After the initial shock ran out Siesta allowed her gaze to travel up the chiseled features up to the smiling face that looked down upon her. Siesta let loose a squeaking sound reminiscent of a mouse cornered by cats, this was her first actual confrontation with a giant in real life. She had honestly never expected to see one in real life, the only place she heard of them were books and...

That thought suddenly brought her thought process to a screaming halt. As the scenes from some of her more 'personal' books came to mind all of a sudden, Gauldfre's smile looked a lot less warm and welcoming and a lot more lustful and hungry. He began rubbing his hands suggestively as he gazed down upon the cowering maid. Her imagination fueled her fear of what the large muscular giant could do to her, she'd be practically defenseless against one with his strength.

As Siesta's mind rapidly short-circuited Private Williams finished wringing out the clothes and carried them over to Gauldfre who, once again, handled the load with ease.

"So mine name's Williams by the way," Williams said walking to Gauldfre's side "Do you know where we should go to dry these out."

**...**

Edmund fought the urge to hold Louise's sleeping form out a window until she woke up. That would have been so entertaining, but the Captain specifically said to keep the girl from dying. Edmund briefly pondered the possibility of Louise surviving a fall like that. He squashed the thought, he knew that probability wasn't a reliable benefactor at most times, that led to short-sighted thinking. He digressed, he'd have to wake her up in a more non-lethal way. So he pulled her, along with most of her sheets, right out of bed. Louise landed on the floor and scrambled out of her sheets in a mixture of sleep-haze and shock.

"WHO?! WHA-!? WHO ARE YOU?!" Louise asked in fright as her eyes fell upon Edmund

"Nobles and their despicable short-term memory" Edmund muttered as he walked to the window and pulled out a cigar, lit it, and promptly inhaled.

"What'd you do that for?!" Louise grumbled as she rubbed sleep from her eyes

"Did you not want me to wake you up early?" Edmund asked with another puff of his cigar "

"Could you not have done it more gently?" Louise asked as she picked herself from the ground

"No" Edmund said bluntly before gesturing to the dresser "Williams and Gauldfre dropped off your clothes"

"Drop-off?" Louise asked "Where are they now?"

"Sleeping outside" Edmund said fixing his collar

Outside? Louise briefly pondered this before realizing that there simply wasn't enough room for them. Gauldfre alone couldn't even get in, him plus they other two would make it annoying for her. Commoners were renown for their loud sleeping. Louise sighed and looked at Edmund, had he stayed up all night?

"What is that?" She asked pointing to the cigar, curios about how fire emanated from the commoner's paper trinket.

Edmund was about to tell how stupid she sounded but remembered, this was about thirteen years in the past compared to their timeline.

"Do you know about smoking pipes?" Edmund asked with a puff, Louise nodded "This is what commoners use as a substitute"

Louise sighed, just commoners and their cheap knock-offs of pricey items.

"Servant!" she said pointing to her dresser "Fetch me my clothes."

Edmund had absolutely no logical reason to comply to the mage's orders. His assignment was to keep her alive while not destroying the academy. None of that mentioned being a maidservant to bratty nobles. Edmund's only response was a puff from his cigar.

"Hey didn't you hear me!?" Louise yelled "Get my clothes!"

Another puff.

Louise scowled " You will get my clothes right now commoner!" she yelled "Or else you won't be eating today"

Puff. Puff. Puff.

"Stupid dog!" she yelled as she proceeded to dress herself. Now she was going to be late all because of her stupid familiar!

She walked to the door and turned to see Edmund getting up to follow her. She sighed, commoners really were useless.

**...**

Williams yawned.

"Gauldfre?" he asked sleepily "you awake?"

He didn't expect an answer, he sat up off the grass to see Gauldfre sitting in a meditative position with a bird chirping in one hand and a rabbit sleeping in the other.

"Good morning big guy" Williams said as he stood and stretched

Gauldfre nodded to both of the animals and they took off.

"God nature does wonders for my state of mind" Williams said as he massaged his temple when suddenly a thought had struck "Hey Gauldfre, why'd that maid react so weirdly to you yesterday?"

After seeing Gauldfre, Siesta had acted in a daze. She showed them where to dry the laundry and had left in a zombie-like state. They then dropped off the clothes and decided to sleep outside.

Gauldfre simply shrugged.

"Well" Williams said putting both hands on his hips "Guess we gotta go find that pink-haired girl, Louise right?"

Gauldfre nodded, and together they began searching for Louise.

**...**

"You should be grateful" Louise stated "Not many commoners get to enter a place as refined as this"

They were currently making their way to Louise's seat in the dining hall. Edmund ignored her comment, he was trying to make sure he soaked up as much 'useful' information. But in a place as superficial as this, that wasn't easy. Louise found her seat and glanced at Edmund who, reluctantly, pulled out her chair for her like a gentleman. He expected her to return the favor some day. He stood to the side of her chair and began looking around for 'potential' threats.

"Ahem" said Louise before nodding to the floor "Aren't you going to eat?"

Edmund glanced down to find a pitiful piece of bread on a plate resting next to her chair like an animal's.

"_Oh Hell_ _No_" Edmund bit his lip till he tasted blood. How many of these plates could he bash over her head till she lost consciousness?

"Unnecessary" he said bluntly ignoring the mounting need to tear people apart. No, he needed to wait until using fear. Now wasn't proper. He needed to make an entrance, but he just didn't know how long he could take this.

Louise 'harrumphed', he wasn't her problem. She looked down at the meal and saw the cat eating it. She briefly wondered how it got there before reaching down to pet it.

"What classes do we attend afterwards _master_?" Edmund asked

Louise briefly wondered why he needed to know that, then she realized why not. It was obvious a commoner like him would love to know about a noble's wonderful life "Today second years don't have classes" She said as she nuzzled the cat some more "We have today off so we can get to know our familiars better."

"I see" Edmund replied coldly "shall we go then?"

"You don't make suggestions to me servant!" Louise said as she returned to her meal "Wait till I'm finished"

**...**

"I have no idea where we are buddy" Williams said as he looked around for any familiar landmarks, he'd always had the slowest of memories.

Somehow he and Gauldfre had stumbled into a café-like area in their search for the female dorms, to say that Williams should've let Gauldfre lead would be an understatement. All around them students were lounging around with their familiars while servants hurried to and fro taking and delivering orders. It was at that moment Williams realized how hungry he was. As he wondered how many hours he could go without food Gauldfre scanned the crowds.

Then he noticed Siesta.

He tapped Williams on the shoulder and pointed to her.

"Great idea Gauldfre!" Williams said "I'm sure she could give us directions!"

**...**

"It's not mine" Guiche said dismissively "Now go fetch my order."

He shooed her away and, confused, Siesta went to get a tray. She had seen Lord Guiche drop the vial, she was sure of it! But he acted like he'd never seen it before. She didn't even make if seven feet when-

"Hey!" yelled another girl, who she remembered to be Montmorency, as she approached with mounting rage "What're you doing with that!"

Siesta froze as Montmorency swiped the bottle from her "This is my perfume!" She growled "Where did you get this servant?!"

Siesta stuttered "I-I saw Lord G-Guiche drop it b-but he didn't take it when I returned it."

Montmorency growled once again and dragged Siesta back over to Guiche's table.

"Guiche!" Montmorency yelled "What's this talk of you letting this servant carry MY perfume which I specifically gave to you!?"

Guiche blanched before striking an injured pose "My sweet Montmorency! I have been victimized by this thief!" he said pointing toward a frantic Siesta "She meens to steal from me and turn us against each other!"

From the looks she was getting from Montmorency, Siesta could tell she was going to be in BIG trouble. Both of the nobles turned to her, but before they could begin demanding that she be fired...

...Williams was there.

He just slid right between them.

"Hey Siesta, great to see you again!" Williams said completely ignoring the furious nobles behind him "Yeah I was hoping you could give me directions-"

"Commoner, show some respect!"

Williams turned to a fuming Guiche who waved his rose at him.

"We were having an important discussion revolving around this maid's thievery" he said "Now leave!"

Siesta was scared, the entire situation had blown completely out of proportion. She didn't want someone else to get involved here. Williams blinked twice before raising a finger to point at Guiche.

"Aren't you that guy who was with that brown-haired girl yesterday?" Williams asked

"Don't change the subject common-!"

"What's he talking about Guiche?"

All of Guiche's flamboyance drained out of him. He turned back to Montmorency.

"My dear Montmorency the fragrance!" he said desperately "the commoner knows not what he says!"

Williams plucked the rose from Guiche's hand and put his foot on a chair in a mock resemblance to Guiche's earlier actions.

"Oh dear Katie" he said in perfect resemblance "I'd love to sample one of your soufflés sometime."

Before Guiche could defend himself, Montmorency grabbed him by the collar "So the rumors about you and the first-year are true!" she said as she shook him furiously

Siesta felt herself being pulled back from the rather explosive drama unfolding before her. What was Williams thinking, did he have a death wish!?

"Lies! All lies!" Guiche said as he desperately tried to diffuse the situation

"Really? I thought it was pretty accurate." Williams said before looking past Guiche "what did you think Katie?"

It felt like his very soul was being ripped from him as he slowly turned to see the tear-stained face of Katie standing behind him.

**...**

When they stepped outside, the first thing Edmund noticed was the crowd gathering. Without words Louise went to see what was going on and Edmund, being the _loyal_ servant he was, followed her. Once they made their way to the inner ring of the crowd Edmund saw a blonde boy desperately trying to calm two girls down. He noticed Gauldfre standing back holding a maid back, he also noticed Williams giggling to himself and quickly marched over.

"What happened?" Edmund asked

"Oh man," Williams said between laughs "you're not going believe this."

"Try me"

"Ok so Guiche over there was dating two girls at once right. So I busted him and now he's about to get torn apart!"

"You what?!" Edmund wasn't particularly angry, in fact he could use this to his advantage. It was the fact that the Private thought he could do something like this without HIS permission first. Before he could demean Williams for his lack of forethought Edmund heard the resounding smacking sound as both of the girls slapped Guiche across the face.

"YOU TWO-TIMING JERK!" they yelled in synchronization before marching off

"Katie! Montmorency!" Guiche cried "Wait I can explain!"

The crowd laughed on and on at Guiche's humiliation, finally he turned on Private Williams.

"Commoner!" he yelled "It's obvious you have no respect for your superiors!"

That instantly killed Williams humor, he looked around in confusion for a bit looking for the source of Guiche's anger.

"You're anger is misplaced child" Edmund said simply

"How dare a commoner such as yourself talk down to me!" Guiche said before turning back to Williams "I can not allow this fop to make two lovely maidens cry!"

"I do believe you should try begging for forgiveness from the women you wronged" Edmund said "Then maybe you could begin to salvage what's left of your debilitated pride"

The crowd laughed it up as Guiche grew more furious.

"You dare defend this peasant!" Guiche said with another gesture of his rose "I challenge you to a duel!"

"I have no time for pathetic children" Edmund said as he walked away

"Running away are you?" Guiche said with a smirk "Worthless Commoner"

Edmund's mind went blank at the word 'Worthless'.

_"Worthless commoners deserve to be burned!"_

_"No please! It hurts! It hurts!"_

_"I think the commoner's going to cry!_

_"Please!"_

_"He is! He is crying! How pathetic!"_

_"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_

Edmund's eyes slowly spotted the Zeppelin, good... it was in a reasonable distance.

"I accept" he said without turning around

Guiche smirked and said "I shall wait for you at the Vestri Court"

And with that Guiche walked off towards the court.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Louise cried when she reached Edmund "He'll tear you apart!"

"I'm going to hurt him." Edmund said without looking back

"He's a mage! He'll kill you!" Louise yelled before grabbing Edmund by the coat "Come on! If you apologize maybe he'll let you off the hook!"

When she pulled, however, Edmund didn't budge. In fact he seemed to be made of stone.

"Gauldfre." Edmund said "Where is the Vestri Court?"

Hesitantly Gauldfre pointed in the direction of the court, he'd explored a 'lot' of the exterior after Williams went to sleep.

"What're you doing!?" Louise said, she couldn't see how an old commoner was planning to fight a mage and was planning to force Edmund to apologize, but stopped when Edmund turned around. He didn't look regretful or scared, in fact he was smiling.

It was a sickeningly hungry smile that disturbed Louise to her very core. That wasn't the face of a man about to die...

...that was the face of a man about to kill.

**...**

The door to the headmaster's office flew open as an exasperated Colbert rushed in. He carried a book and marched directly to Headmaster Osmond's desk.

"Headmaster Osmond!" Colbert said "We have a serious issue here!"

Osmond felt a little sad at the sudden need for his attention. He and his mouse familiar, Monsignor, was busy conducting a reconnaissance mission to determine what colored panties Miss Longueville was wearing. Honestly, how would that woman ever expect to get a man if she never wears anything enjoyable?

"What seems to be the problem Mister Colbert?" Osmond asked seriously

"It's Miss Valliere's familiars!"

"Oh yes, the ones with the war airship" Osmond sighed, he'd been getting complaints about that all day and night. He had to admit he was surprised that the proclaimed 'Zero' could summon humans, let alone a whole ship's worth "remind me to talk with their captain about that."

"That's not it sir!" Colbert opened the book and placed it on Osmond's desk "These are the runes those familiars bear."

Osmond looked at the book's title which read 'Familiars of Brimir', he raised an eyebrow.

"Miss Longueville" Osmond said "Please step outside for a moment"

His secretary looked at him with a quizzical expression before shrugging to leave.

Suddenly the door flew open again, a panting teacher had to catch his breath before saying:

"Lord Guiche is about to duel one of Valliere's familiars!"

**...**

"I compliment you for not running away" Guiche said pointing his rose at Edmund "I will however offer you one last chance to beg for forgiveness"

Louise felt like she was going to be sick. There was a large crowd gathered, and they were all here to watch one of her familiars get beaten within an inch of his life. They were most likely going to laugh at her afterwards. She looked at Gauldfre and Williams who were a way's off. Gauldfre had his regular expression with his arms crossed, Williams actually looked giddy. Louise was shocked by this behavior, did they not care about their friend?

"You talk to much" Edmund said removing his gloves and stuffing them into his coat pocket "Get on with it child"

Guiche faltered a bit before regaining his stride and swung his rose through the air, a single pedal fell majestically to the ground and formed a beautifully detailed bronze Valkyrie.

"My runic name is Guiche the bronze, therefore this bronze golem shall be your opponent." Guiche laughed victoriously "Any last words commoner?"

"Yes" Edmund said as he brought out new gloves, these had blue veins running along them " So far I have been appalled by the arrogance you nobles seem to have no limit to. Your comfort-laced lives have spoiled your minds and turned them into idiotic chunks of self-righteousness. And to think you guys feel like you have the right to blame all your discomforts on the servants who so diligently put up with your ridiculous desires speaks volumes of the sheer amount of arrogance you must have accumulated."

The crowd was angry, very angry. This commoner had insulted them all, he had no right! Many hoped that Guiche might 'accidently' disable the commoner.

"And now" Edmund said pointing "I'm going to take out over twenty-four hours worth of rage on you."

Edmund squeezed his other hand and the veins begin to pulse blue.

**...**

Deep in the bowels of the zeppelin, a blue light flickered on. It was soon followed by several more.

**"PRIMARY MISSION UPDATED"**

**...**

"It seems you need to be put in your place!" Guiche said cheered on by his classmates. With a wave of his rose the Valkyrie charged at Edmund, Louise almost couldn't watch.

The Valkyrie didn't make it half-way to him before the knight fell from the sky. The Valkyrie was flattened by the sheer force he came down with.

The knight stood at full height, his armor was made of a shiny dark metal. There was a glass covering on his helmet that had blue light pulsing behind it. In one hand he had a black case with a handle on it, in the other he held a metal object with three protrusions. He was holding it by one of the protrusions.

"What?!" Said Guiche, voicing the shock of the now-silent crowd "What is that?!"

"Oh this?" Edmund asked as the knight walked over and handed him the case "Just a mech I built, quite handy it is, most of you simple-minded fools would try to label it as a golem."

"But you're just a commoner!" Guiche yelled

"Wrong!" Edmund yelled with glee "I'm the smartest fucking commoner you'll ever meet!"

And with a snap of his fingers Edmund's mech dashed towards Guiche at high speed. Guiche knew he didn't have enough time to summon a golem, so he quickly summoned a sword and swung it at the mech. The sword broke on it's shoulder, Guiche had just enough time to realize how screwed he was before the Mech delivered a savage blow to his gut. Guiche keeled over, clutching his stomach in pain.

"Your Valkyrie was powered by magic" Edmund said as he pressed a button on the case, several stands extended from the bottom of the case and Edmund promptly placed it on the ground. Due to the stands, the case now stood at about waist level "My Mech's fueled by refined Will, so obviously it moves faster."

The mech grabbed Guiche by the scruff of his collar and dragged him over to Edmund who opened the case and retrieved a small metal object similar to the mech's.

"Your Valkyrie had a high composition of copper," Edmund said as he took out another cigar and lit it "Compared to my mech, it was little more than tin."

The mech held Guiche in the air. Edmund inhaled deeply.

"Now, you were saying something about me just being a commoner?" Edmund said with a sadistic smile

"I-I yield" Guiche said hanging his head in shame

Edmund chuckled "Yeah that's cute, kid."

And in front of all those onlookers, he raised the metal object and brutally bashed Guiche in the face with it. The stunned crowd watched in confusion and terror as Guiche spat out some blood before looking at Edmund. The mech wrapped both arms Under Guiche's armpits restraining him

"I said I yield!" he said, his words were met with another severe bash across the face.

"Do I look like a bitch?!" Edmund yelled

"What!?"

"I said DO I LOOK LIKE A BITCH!?"

"no!"

"Then why'd you try to beat me like one?"

That stunned Guiche.

"I-I this isn't part of the rules!" Guiche cried "I yielded! Release me!"

"Shut up you noble dog!" Edmund said with another brutal bash to the face. The now terrified crowd watched in horror as Guiche coughed out several pieces of broken teeth.

"this isn't part of the rules." Guiche said as his eyes lolled around

"I don't give two shits!" Edmund said with another smile "Do you know what this is?"

He waved the metal object around.

"This is a Boxman repeater." Edmund stated "One shot from this has enough force to pull half the contents of your skull out the back of your head."

"That's enough!"

Edmund turned to look at Louise, who was visibly shaking. This whole situation was surreal, Edmund was supposed to have been beaten and bruised. Nobles weren't supposed to be beaten by commoners and commoners surely weren't supposed to have control over golems. Now Edmund was the one viciously beating Guiche, and the onlookers were terrified.

"You've won already!" she said "Please stop!"

"Louise I never said I wanted to win" Edmund said while he stroked the Repeater " I said from the beginning that I only wanted to expel the pent up rage that you left me with."

"What?!" Louise said "That doesn't give you an excuse for-"

"Sit the fuck down, child" Edmund said "The only reason I haven't reduced you to a goddamn grease stain by now is because the Captain said to keep you out of trouble."

Louise froze, if what Edmund was saying was true, could it have been possible that Edmund spent the whole night thinking up ways to kill her?

"Unfortunately the same thing can't be said for bronze boy over here." Edmund said before turning back to Guiche.

"Thought you were going to make an example of me eh?" Edmund said leveling the repeater with Guiche's chin "Thought you were going to beat me into submission did you?"

Everybody knew he was speaking the truth but most just couldn't find a reason to justify his actions.

"Stop, You can't do this!" Montmorency cried stepping out of the circle, many were surprised that she would defend her cheating boyfriend

"Well frankly I don't care." Edmund said raising his hand to strike Guiche once more

"I said stop!" Montmorency yelled before raising her wand. Before she could get off a good spell, however, a spinning blade came out of nowhere and sliced her wand clean in half before burying itself in the ground.

Now the attention was on Montmorency who looked at the remaining stub of her wand in terror. Everyone turned in the direction the blade had come from and saw another one of Edmund's mechs marching toward her. Montmorency flinched as the mech passed by her. It reached down and pulled the blade out of the ground before looking expectantly toward Edmund.

"I suggest you don't try anything girl" He said " Next time you try that with me, I'm going to GOUGE OUT YOUR EYES, AND SKULL FUCK YOU!"

Montmorency backed away in fear of the man's words, Edmund turned back to Guiche.

"How would that make you feel pretty-boy?" he asked "bet you wouldn't give a damn."

"I suggest nobody else try anything" He yelled to the crowd "You'll find my mechs a tad bit more resilient than your measly golems."

Everyone looked to see a mech climb down the side of a nearby building and another fall from the sky. Edmund smiled and grabbed the object from the mech holding Guiche.

"A demonstration is necessary!" He said waving it in the air,

One of the Mech's walked to the middle of the court and stood stock still as Edmund leveled the object with it.

Edmund pulled the trigger and, in front of everyone there, opened fire on the mech.

Multiple rounds pinged off the mech's armor and tore large chunks out of the wall behind it. One stray round caught the mech in it's glass covering. The round shattered the glass revealing the complex circuitry within.

Once the firing stopped Edmund lowered the weapon. The mech's armor didn't have a scratch on it, besides the glass covering. What was the most shocking was the decimated wall behind it. The academy was renown for it's magically reinforced defenses. The fact that a single commoner could be able to damage it was unheard of. And the sheer speed at which he fired those barrier-breaking rounds was unthinkable.

"Now who wants to guess what this could do to one of your bodies" Edmund said before reloading it.

He picked Guiche's rose off the ground and held it to his cigar, the rose quickly caught aflame

Edmund held the burning rose "Plastic" he said "How did I know"

He walked over to Guiche and tore open his shirt.

"What are you doing!?" Guiche asked with dread

"You nobles are pigs" Edmund said before shaking the rose until only the heated stem remained "I'm going to make sure you never forget that"

"No wait! Don't" Guiche cried as Edmund brought the stem closer to his flesh

A split-second before the stem could sear his skin, a tendril of water came from the sky and caught him by the hand. Edmund had just enough time to look confused before the tendril pulled him into the air. The students looked up to see a transport ship hovering overhead, they hadn't noticed it with the public torture about to commence. The tendril pulled Edmund towards the ship and hung him in front of a severely angered Captain.

"Edmund" the Captain said "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Edmund's bloodlust was wiped clean instantly "Oh, just having a little rough-housing with the kids you know?"

"He was about to kill that kid!" Williams said while laughing "It was awesome!"

"Edmund, for god sakes!" the Captain said "This couldn't look worse!"

The Captain gestured around "Nearly killing a noble. Gathering massive amounts of unwanted attention. And the worse part is that it looks like Williams hasn't been hurt all day!"

"Sir I can-"

"No Edmund!" the Captain said with a raised hand "Release blondie over there."

With a sigh of defeat Edmund waved his hand and the Mech released Guiche to the ground.

The Captain then looked around at the dozens of horrified students surrounding the Vestri Court.

"Uhh..." he said looking around "Is there any chance you all could forget this event ever happened?"

* * *

**REVIEW.**

**This chapter is a Pilot for this story, your reviews will determine if I continue it so...**

**REVIEW.**


	2. Chapter 2: Good Time ChatsLovely Liqour

**CHAPTER 2: Good Time Chats and the Love of Liquor.**

Headmaster Osmond sighed, the events that were occurring within the crystal ball both worried and intrigued him. Guiche had nearly been tortured by a bloodthirsty common man who had control over very impressive Golems and weaponry. Nearby Colbert was also in a deep state of concentration. A bead of sweat dripped from his chin as they had watched the one-sided battle go on. The sheer power that the commoner was demonstrating on the now defeated noble was highly concerning for both of them. Miss Longueville was also watching from the side holding a hand to her mouth as if covering a look of shock. The other male teacher had been sent to collect several other mages. They'd need at least two water mages to treat the injuries and several varying mages in case the commoner's golems reacted violently.

Osmond turned to look at Colbert "Does _this_ have something to do with the runes on those familiars?" he asked

Colbert blinked twice before composing himself "While I don't have enough to draw any final conclusions, I can say that there is an obvious relation between the two."

Osmond stared into the crystal ball were the commoner captain was now lecturing the old steward.

"Professor Colbert, I want you to tell me everything you know about this, slowly and carefully."

* * *

_The little maid tried to clean as much of her master's bookshelves as possible. If he returned and found them a mess, he'd undoubtedly take it out on her. These bookshelves had so many nooks and crannies in them due to their design, how could she ever get them done in time? She scolded herself, she should've cleaned these first before doing the rest of the dining hall. The master loved having his rooms cleaned down to the smallest of dusts, he wanted his guests to FEEL the superiority when they entered his humble abode. _

_Due to this he worked the staff to the bone, but this maid always felt as if he watched just an ounce more than the others. _

_Her thoughts were muddled at the sound of a door creaking open. The maid turned to see the figure of her master standing in the entryway. His fancy cloak hung from his toned shoulders, and his clothes seemed to grip the muscles underneath. The little maid couldn't see his face due to the darkened hall behind him, but she knew he had instantly spotted her. _

_The little maid trembled before quickly returning to her duties. She dusted the shelves furiously, they didn't seem to be getting any cleaner no matter how much she struggled. She heard the sounds of her master's footsteps approaching and she silently prayed to the founder that he wouldn't notice her dilemma. _

_"M-master!" She said turning to greet him with a bow "How was you're-?"_

_His hands gripped her shoulders and quickly spun her around. The startled maid had enough time to feel her master lean against her as he reached one large hand toward the shelves. He pointed a finger and let it glide upon one of the crevices, his large finger somehow sliding effortlessly between the crevice. The maid's breath hitched when he brought his hand back and held it in front of her face. The maid could make out a small smudge of dust on her master's finger. The maid shuddered as his hand grabbed her chin and turned her to face him. Her body now pressed close against his as she looked up at him. The maid could make out her master's smooth bald head his warm smile. _

_"M-Master Gauldfre?"_

_The maid received no reply as her master quickly reached one hand behind him and violently brushed off the contents of the dining table swiftly. He then lifted up the maid and threw her onto the table._

_"Master please!" she cried toward her master, he grinned lustfully as his hands were soon upon her-_

"Out of the way!"

Siesta quickly shook off her fantasy and stepped out of the way of two teachers who walked past her quickly. Once they were gone she tried making herself as busy as possible. Her mind, however, quickly wandered back to her fantasy. In retrospect, Gauldfre had seemed a bit gentler than the noble in her story. Siesta turned back to look at the diminishing forms of the teachers, they were heading in the direction of the Vestri Court...

... hadn't Gauldfre and his friends gone to the Vestri Court?

* * *

"And what did I tell you about noble children?"

Edmund sighed "They always over-exaggerate things." he replied

The Captain clapped his hands together "Wonderful" he said with a smile "now then... what is the one rule when beating a noble child?"

"Don't overdo it."

"Exactly Eddy," the Captain brought out a flask of gin, opened it and downed some "Now... what did you do wrong?"

Louise walked up to them and cut right into their conversation "What just happened out their?!"

"Sorry kiddo" the Captain said as he savored the smell of the gin with a smile "Seems like Edmund here had a bit too much fun!"

"Fun!?" Louise yelled, she pointed to where Guiche was being held and treated by water mages "you call that fun!?"

When the teachers arrived the viewers had all but herded out of the Vestri Court. Now it's only inhabitants were the mages, Guiche, Montmorency who stayed as close to him as possible, several teachers, Edmund's mechs who were lined up behind him, and Gauldfre. Somehow Private Williams had disappeared with the crowd

"Hey calm down darling," the Captain said before draining his flask "this actually turned out better than the last time Edmund fought a noble."

Louise paused, this had happened before, Why has she never heard of this?!

"Why didn't you tell me you were a noble!?" Louise yelled at Edmund who was currently lighting a cigar

"I'm not." he replied

Before Louise could argue, a teacher approached them "Headmaster Osmond would like to speak with you," he said gazing at Louise and the three pirates "all of you."

Louise nearly froze. She'd summoned Edmund here, and now he'd almost tortured Guiche. If he was still considered a familiar then she, his master, would take the fall.

The Captain looked back at Edmund "Let's get our stories straight right now." he said urgently

* * *

Williams was having a blast. It turns out that while Edmund was savagely beating that noble, plenty of the staff had come to view as well. He had slipped out with the crowd and had immediately went about finding a kitchen. And low and behold when he found it, the place was empty. He went through the cupboards and cabinets like a madman, throwing stuff away in anger when he didn't find what he was looking for. Then he made his way into another part of the kitchen and found his treasure.

The liquor was soon loaded up into a knapsack he had procured from the kitchen. He then sneaked his way through the hall, back towards the Vestri court. By the time he got their everyone was gone, including the Captain's transport ship. William's brow furrowed in annoyance, where would the Captain leave a transport ship? Minute's later William's had found it just yards away from the café.

Of course, the Captain would want as many people to see it as possible.

There were two pilots who were leaning against the side of the ship, William's thought quickly and hid the knapsack before retrieving several items

"Ahoy mates!" William said as he walked toward them holding a bottle of ale and two tankards.

The two pilots looked at William, one grinned "Well if it isn't the Captain's little cabin boy!"

They snickered a bit as William filled the tankards "Captain wanted me to get ya some ale as thanks for helping with his spectacular entrance!"

"Aye," one of them said grabbing a tankard "at least he knows how to treat his men!"

The other pilot grabbed the other one and they clanked them together before downing them

One pilot gave a satisfied sigh "Fuck, now this is what I call a drink!"

William handed him the bottle and walked off. He grabbed his knapsack full of liquors and walked back to find both pilots down for the count. He wondered if they could taste the sedatives in their sleep.

Probably not.

* * *

The teacher led Louise and the three pirates to the Headmaster's office. The Captain and Edmund had chattered relentlessly since they'd started walking. Edmund had kept only two mechs with him, one being the one with the shattered faceplate. Gauldfre was at the back of their group with his ever-present smile never lingering.

Louise had blocked out the discussion the Captain and Edmund were having, she was busy wondering where her family would send her after she was expelled. Once they reached the headmaster's office the teacher opened the door for them. Inside Headmaster Osmond waited at his desk, Colbert stood near with his hands behind his back. Miss Longueville was seated at her workplace watching the event while pretending to do her work. There were chairs set up in front of Osmond's desk.

"Greetings!" the Captain said as he took a seat "I believe you had some questions?"

"Familiar!" Louise yelled before slapping him upside the head "This is Headmaster Osmond! Show some respect!"

"Please Louise it's quite okay" Osmond said, Louise huffed but sat in the seat next to the Captain "Now then... to the matter at hand."

Osmond and Colbert's eyes went to Edmund who stood on the right side of the chairs with a mech at either side of him, Gauldfre was standing on the left side by the Captain. Edmund caught their gaze and held it.

"Sir, you do know that battles between nobles is forbidden right?" Osmond said slowly

"I am not of noble blood." Edmund replied

"Oh? Did you not summon those golems to aid you?" Osmond asked as his brow furrowed

"Nope" Edmund said as a grin appeared on his face "I built them."

"What?!" Louise cried "Impossible! No commoner could be able to build golems like that!"

"Your golems are disgustingly inefficient!" Edmund snapped back

"People!" Colbert broke in "People please, were here to negotiate not argue!"

Edmund grumbled and Louise huffed. The Captain chuckled while pulling out another flask.

"Didn't you finish that?" Edmund asked, distracted from the previous engagement

"Edmund," the Captain said uncapping the flask "as Captain I must always keep a flask of whiskey on me for negotiations."

Edmund sighed while the others looked at him in bewilderment of his actions.

"As I was saying," the Headmaster started " You attacked a noble child without hesitation... Why?"

"He attacked me first" Edmund said "And the dog needed to be punished for his impudence."

"Oh please Edmund" the Captain said before leaning towards the Headmaster "Your boy probably damaged his ego and got him riled up is all"

"What?" Osmond asked

"Let me clarify" the Captain said with a swig of whiskey "Edmund here as a very large self-image, damage to his image resolves in intense pain in the short- or long-term."

"He was planning to scar the boy with heated plastic" Colbert said with narrowed eyes

"Like I said to this one here" the Captain gestured towards Louise with the flask "Edmund's done a lot worst than that."

Osmond and Colbert glanced at each other at this.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh please, back where we come from nobles talked about this guy like he was from a bloody ghost story" The Captain put his feet up on Osmond's desk "In fact, before the Regular War people called him the-"

"Regular War?" the mages all asked at once

"Yeah" the Captain said with another swig "You know, the Regular War?"

"In all of Halkeginia's history there has never been record of a Regular War" Colbert answered

The Captain looked at them for a minute before smirking "I knew it..." he said finishing his flask

"Knew what exactly?"

"Why, we're from another universe of course!"

The room went silent, the teachers stared in shock while Louise balled her hand up into a fist as she slowly shook with embarrassment.

"What..." Osmond deadpanned

"In short" the Captain pointed at Louise "This little one pulled us and our zeppelin into your universe through using a powerful form of magic."

"Captain" Edmund interrupted with a low growl "Though I'm no stranger to the Multiverse theory I have to argue that the possibilities of us bring in another universe-"

"Are impossible!" Louise yelled before folding her arms "There's only one universe!"

"Hush child!" Edmund snapped "Adults are talking!"

"What's a zeppelin?" Colbert interrupted

Before Edmund and Louise could continue bickering, the Captain leapt at the chance.

"You guys have flying machines right?" the Captain asked, Colbert nodded "Well a zeppelin is kind of like that, only powered with a heavily industrialized engine comprised of gas and steam instead of magic."

"But how?" Colbert let his curiosity get the better of him "How is that possible without wind stones?"

Edmund chuckled "Science, my friend" he said "Pure magnificent science."

"Headmaster!" Louise cried "I apologize for my familiars! To make up such lies-"

"Enough!" Edmund yelled standing up. The twitchy mech with the shattered faceplate took a step forward but Gauldfre pressed a hand on it's chestplate. The mech looked at Gauldfre with a it's blue light slowly turning red. This development drew Edmund's attention.

"Yield" he said and the twitchy mech took a step back, it's gaze never left Gauldfre.

"You guys say you're from another universe, correct?" Osmond asked

"Yessir" The Captain replied

"Then tell us a bit about it" Osmond said "I'm quite curious to know about a land I've never heard of before."

"Headmaster Osmond!" Louise cried "You're not seriously considering what these crazies speak of"

"I'm also quite curious about this Regular War" added Colbert

Louise deflated in her chair as the Captain smirked "With pleasure..."

* * *

We hail from a land named Milgrash which was actually pretty similar to yours at one point. We had the mage monarchy, a king, and even the whole species problem with the orcs. Now about 200 years ago, the continent that made up the entire land mass was split into thirteen smaller masses that were later named the colonies. Nobody, not even the king's top researchers, could explain the strange occurrence. Now nobles were spread far and thin to make sure that the king's rule stayed in power for those who were separated. Colonies 7 8 and 13 were taken over by orcs shortly before the King's forces could intervene. They basically forbade any access to the Orc colonies and forgot about them.

Now I know that you guys must be 'soooo' much more fairer since we haven't been enslaved with collars yet. But the nobles from our world were a lot harsher with their subjects. They treated servants like pets who HAD to follow all orders or risk punishment, and when I say punishment I mean no nonsense lacerations and broken bones. The nobles sought humor in battering their defenseless servants for the most menial of things. Now the common people hated the nobles with deep passion, but they were too scared to do anything.

_"Sad but not unheard of" Osmond said as he sighed into his palm "Nobles over-doing their punishments and going overboard."_

Anyway, that changed with the Kaldwell incident.

Among many nobles was the esteemed Kaldwell family. They were very wealthy and had control over a large portion of colony three. One day about 16 years ago, a newsletter went out. This newsletter described, in vivid detail, the 'past times' of the younger Kaldwell men. It was a story given to them by a former maid, she told of how the Kaldwells would kidnap common girls from all over the colony, they'd ben using them as 'playthings' if you catch my drift. Half the staff was threatened that their loved ones would be executed. These girls were put through ungodly amounts of rape, torture, and brutalization. Of course, the crown had no other option but to intervene. The Kaldwell estates were searched and the aforementioned captives were discovered broken and beaten.

_"Dear founder..." Colbert said as the mages listened._

The people were enraged, they cried for blood and retribution, but the nobles were already too far gone by that time. They had made no action towards the Kaldwell family, and even went so far as saying the victims should be 'thankful' for being gifted the opportunity to pleasure a noble.

There was no declaration, no message, in just 12 hours the entire common population had declared war on the nobility.

Now it went exactly how you'd expect it for the first three weeks. The nobles waved their wands and carved through the enemy like butter.

That all changed with Giorgio Boxman.

Boxman was an inventor, he made decent money on trinkets that made life easier for the common people.

His daughter had been one of the Kaldwell captives. Unfortunately she'd also been a 'favorite' amongst her captives.

She used to be a sweet young lass that worked at a local tavern as a barmaid. The men of her village loved to stop by for a drink and to gaze at her beauty after a hard day's work.

She was nothing like that when she had returned. Being locked up underground had all but ruined her features, but the Kaldwells made use of them while she had them. Days on end they violated her, the servants said her screams went on for days.

By the time she was returned to her father she had been reduced to nothing more than a husk. She was also left with child.

They say she was silent through the birth, the pain she'd gone through had all but muted her.

Boxman himself had gone through the deepest bowels of greif and sorrow. It was the feeling of all his pride and joy being violated, and not having the power to stop it. The knowledge that someone had forced his sweet beautiful daughter to carry their seed, the fact that they got away with it. The soulless look on his daughter's face had done something to him. And so, not even a day after the birth,..

Boxman strangled the baby in it's crib.

_"What?!" cried Louise "But it was barely a toddler!" _

_"I can see how he'd come to that." Colbert said "To him the baby represented the torment his daughter had gone through."_

Exactly, after that he worked tirelessly trying to find a way to seek justice. He spent days locked away in his workshop tinkering away. The product was the very first Boxman repeater. It was the greatest firearm ever invented at the time. The speed and multiple-shot features made it a revolutionary point in warfare.

Of course it had to be tested, so he went ahead to the Kaldwell estate. Without any guards or servants it was pretty easy to infiltrate, even for a regular common man. Turns out that without their guards or income from their fiefs, the nobles had nearly ran dry from resources. They had to recruit their own to do the manual labor while the war went on, even with the POWs they enslaved.

Boxman made his way to the bedchambers and found the Kaldwells sleeping peacefully in their beds. He was able to put bullets in both of the parents befi=ore the younger Kaldwells awoke. Now they knew that commoners would strike out in retaliation to their "Little Game", but they never expected to actually get a fight. Boxman shot down the younger brother next and incapacitated the older with a round right into his gut. He would have bled to death if Boxman hadn't stitched him up.

Now don't go thinking this was a form of last-minute hesitation, Boxman just wanted him alive a bit longer.

Now most people think Boxman did it to find himself some closure, but he did things to that kid so horrific that God himself would turn from it.

They say he started by lobbing off the kid's hands, had to make sure he wouldn't be able to use his wand in case he broke loose. Took him exactly three hours to tear that kid apart, body and soul. Took him another hour to string up the bodies in the middle of his village.

Boxman went from a tinkerer to the turning point of the war. Once his weaponry got in the hands of the common people, the war was completely flipped over.

Weeks later the royal family was killed by large scale explosives. The nobility is trimmed down throughout the next few months, and the blood of butchered nobles stained the lands. By the second year you could barely call it a war anymore.

They made it into a hunt.

It became a kind of sport to hunt down mages, the common people loved it so much that they became fanatical about. They finally had a chance to give their tormentors a piece of their own medicine. They came up with this name for themselves, Regulars. They'd dress in light red armor with a large R somewhere over the left of their chests. When the Noble hunt became popular you'd normally see groups of regulars marching down the streets, looking for any refugee mages. If they had even the slightest suspicion that a person was a mage, they had full authority to burn them at the stake. They had no mercy, to wield magic was a sin of the highest caliber.

In a way, they became just as bad as the nobles were, they became ignorant to the pleas for mercy.

* * *

"And there you have it." the Captain finished as he finished off his flask, he stood and stretched "And just enough time to see if those cuties in the maid outfits know where to get some more ale."

The mages were staring at him wide-eyed, Edmund grinned at their shock.

"Why-How could commoners do such a thing?" Louise said as she struggled with her voice, the world the Captain had described persecuted those blessed with the ability to use magic.

"Hard to picture?" the captain asked "That kind of thinking is what screwed over the fellas from our world."

The Captain walked towards the door with a lanky swagger, the older mages seemed to be shaken out of their shock.

"Wait! There's so much more we need-" Colbert started

"Sorry pal" the Captain as he turned and took off his hat before bowing "but the call of ale is strong and as a man with a sense of civil duty, I must answer it."

The Captain put on his hat and turned to open the door just as a young teacher pulled it open. She looked up at him before he politely stood aside and gestured for her to enter. She looked at him suspiciously before walking towards Osmond.

"Headmaster, I regretfully inform you that someone has looted the school's kitchen of all alcoholic beverages including our fine wines."

"Oh dear" Colbert said "There seems to be plenty of problems-"

"That little bastard!" Everyone turned to see the Captain who was shaking with rage "How dare he!"

Before anyone could speak, the Captain stormed out of the office.

* * *

"Do you think he has a thing for dominating?"

Tabitha stared at her book as Kirche paced to and fro. They were in the Café, two burly men were chatting at a nearby table and Tabitha's familiar, Sylphid, was busy trying to get Kirche's familiar, Flame, to play with her. Every time the salamander found a place to sleep, Sylphid would nudge it until it trotted to another place angrily.

Tabitha kept her eyes glued to her book as she reached for her tea, took small sip, and placed it back. Kirche had been talking about the strange commoners since the fight, most of her words centered around their Captain.

"He bossed that psychopath around so easily!" Kirche reminded her a thirteenth time "I wonder if he's a fallen noble or something?"

Tabitha turned a page.

"He was using magic after all ... Oh!... what if he used to be a royal guard or something?" Kirche suggested "Oh my, this mystery seems-"

"That little Fucker!"

Kirche turned to see the Captain March past them with Louise and his two lackeys following behind. His fists were shaking in fury.

"Where the hell is my ship?!" he cried as he looked around the café. His eyes landed on the two burly men.

"You two!" the Captain yelled before turning and running towards them "What the hell happened here?!"

The Captain grabbed one of them by the shoulder and pulled. The man fell limp to the ground... he was unconscious.

"Crap" the Captain muttered

Louise stopped by Kirche and Tabitha's table to catch her breath, the Captain followed with Gauldfre and the Mechs right behind. Edmund had a look of amusement as he saw the Captain struggle to think up a plan.

"Hey Louise," Kirche asked the panting pinkette "What is your familiar doing?"

The Captain spotted Sylphid and gave a breath of relief before walking towards her.

He stopped in front of the curious dragon, he clapped his hands together rubbed his hands on his cheeks and then cracked his knuckles together several times.

"What're you doing?!" cried Louise as she rushed toward her familiar

The Captain jumped in place three times and, finally, Sylphid responded.

"Kyuu! Kyuu!" Sylphid chirped before leaning her head down.

"To the owner of the blue dragon," the Captain said as he climbed aboard "I'll be commissioning her for a bit."

"You Idiot!" Louise yelled before jumping and grabbing a hold of the captain's cloak before Sylphid launched into the air.

Kirche and Tabitha watched the dragon disappear into the sky. Kirche was trying her hardest to wrap her brain around the whole 'Commoner giving orders to a dragon' part.

"Tabitha!" Kirche said with a look of determination "Let's go after them!"

Tabitha looked at Kirche.

"He stole your dragon and besides..." Kirche leaned in close "I'm curious as to what that sicko has up in that ship of his."

Kirche glanced at Edmund, he was still looking at the retreating form of Sylphid.

"...Fine..." Tabitha said softly before closing her book.

Edmund watched the two mages begin to float off into the sky. When they were a safe distance away, he walked over and grabbed the half finished tea. He took a whiff of it before taking a drink.

"Hmmm." he said as he savored the taste "At least these noble dogs know how to make decent tea."

He took a seat "I do believe we'll be waiting here for a while" he said as he finished his tea "Gauldfre, please fetch me some more tea. We'll be leaving for the nearest city soon."

* * *

Louise gripped the Captain's coat as hard as she could as they soared into the sky. The Captain kept one hand on Sylphid and the other to keep his hat on.

"What in Brimir's name are you doing!?" Louise cried

" I 'm going to paint my ship with Williams' innards when I find him!" the Captain answered

"But what'd he do?"

"He raided your liquor supply!"

"So what?! we could always resupply!"

The Captain turned to look at her "You have no idea what Williams can do when he's got enough liquor flowing in him."

Louise went silent.

The Zeppelin came into view, on board were a bunch of the crewmembers, too many of the crewmembers. As they got closer Louise piped up.

"What did you do back there, with Sylphid I mean?" Louise asked

"I know how to think like an animal." the Captain replied "I just made her see the idea of helping me as 'fun'."

"What?"

"No time" the Captain said before guiding Sylphid on to the deck of the ship. The crew members approached slowly. The Captain got off and Louise followed suit. The Captain then walked to one of the crew who was about to sink his teeth into an apple. The Captain snatched it from his hands and turned on his crew.

"What are you guys doing out here?" the Captain looked at them all "What happened."

One of the crewmembers stepped forward "It was Williams cap'n": she said "he came in here with this sick look on his face."

"Did he smell like booze?"

"wha-?"

"No, don't 'wha-?' me. Did. He. Smell. Like. Booze?

"Uhhhh I think so?"

"Crap" the Captain said before turning back to Sylphid "Thanks for helping darling."

He then held up the apple before tossing it overboard. Sylphid instantly took kindly to this new game, and leaped off the ship after it.

"Okay then," the Captain said before turning back to the ship "Might I ask if any of you know where Willard is?"

* * *

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	3. Will and Willard

**Chapter 3: Will and Willard**

_Edmund struggled to right himself, there was a loud ringing in his ears. Through the ringing he could hear the sounds of more explosions and the warcry of hundreds of bloodthirsty Regulars._

_Once he was in a sitting position he looked around frantically for the royal family. They had been fools, he'd told them the Regulars would try something! _

_Did they listen? No, that worthless king was just like the rest of the single-minded noble dogs. _

_Edmund pulled himself to his feet, he was aware of a sharp pain in his left arm. He tried moving it and found it unresponsive. Edmund cursed before checking his pockets for the doorway. His fingers brushed against a lumpy metal object and he gave a breath of relief. He pulled out the doorway, it resembled a metal cube with thick wiring running across it. He stuffed it back into his pocket before taking a tentative step forward._

_He could only move slowly, the pain in the left side of his body being too crippling to go faster. He looked through the smoke and found exactly what he was hoping to find._

_The corpses of the king and queen, l__ooks like the big guy had tried to shield his wife from the blast at the last second._

_Edmund let himself forget about the pain he was in, he could feel the smile growing on his face. This was one of the few times he would allow himself to smile. Why wouldn't he? He was a free man now. _

_He had only just begun chuckling when he heard the crying. The sobs were decorated with the occasional cough. Edmund could feel his previous joy drain away as he slowly turned towards the cries. To his horror, he saw a crumpled form lying across a tattered piece of debris. Edmund limped toward the form, hoping beyond hope that it was someone else. But when he looked down upon the still coughing child, he felt sorrow in it's purest form._

_It was the prince._

Clockwork hummed to himself as he walked through the corridors of the zeppelin. He couldn't exactly remember whose voice had actually sung it, but it was a sweet tune none the less. The crew members had been running around like chickens earlier, but now everything seemed deathly quite. Well, everything except for all that racket coming from the mess hall.

That place had smelled of liquor.

He could feel the gears in his head churning once more. They spun from his head all the way throughout his hat. The feeling made him squeeze the metal staff in his hand. The machine wanted something done.

Clockwork listened to the machine. He had to...

...because the Savior had given it to him.

The machine led him to the hallway that connected with Edmund's doorway. Clockwork's brows furrowed in confusion, why would the machine lead him here? He had tried getting in multiple times during his stay aboard the ship, not one of them had actually succeeded. The door required a signature of magic to open.

The word 'Magic' made Clockwork chew on his lip. For all the big words that Edmund had spoken about hating nobles, he used magic in many of his god-forsaken contraptions.

Clockwork peered around a corner and saw two girls standing in front of the large metal door. Clockwork watched as one of them spoke to the other.

"This looks like the stuff that psycho's golems were made of!" she said triumphantly "This must be were his sleeping quarters are!"

The shorter girl said nothing, just kept looking at the door.

"Now how to get it open?" the tall girl put a hand to her chin, she then pulled out a wand and began chanting.

Clockwork's eyes widened beneath his goggles. After a few unsuccessful spells the girl got lucky and actually cast one close enough to the door's magic recognition slot.

The door slid open with a hiss and, after the tall girl jumped in victory, the girls entered.

Before the doors could close, Clockwork slipped inside.

He must be sure to thank Boxman next time they meet...

...never again will he question the machine.

* * *

"Why won't you tell me anything?!" Louise asked as she struggled to catch up with the Captain

"Because I'm to busy thinking up ways to eviscerate William when he gets back!" the Captain replied without looking back. They were currently searching through the halls of the ship with Louise struggling to keep up with the furious Captain

"Gets back?" Louise faltered "I thought we were going to get him right now."

"Nope, we're going after Willard."

"Who's Willard!?"

The Captain stopped dead in his tracks and shushed her. He pointed to a large set of wooden doors, one of them was torn off its hinges. Louise paused as the Captain walked carefully to the door.

"This is the mess hall." the Captain said as he took a whiff of the air "It smells like liquor."

The Captain walked into the mess hall, it was a mess even by pirate standards.

The tables and food were strewn everywhere, and alcohol bottles laid all over.

"What happened here?" Louise asked as she surveyed the destruction.

A bullet whizzed by the Captain's head, he grabbed Louise and dove behind an overturned table.

"Captain MarbleGargler!" a humored voice yelled out "Great to see you again!"

"Just give it up Willard!" the Captain replied "We can all walk out of this unscathed!"

Louise peeked around the corner.

Standing on a battered platform that hung over the mess hall was none other than William.

"What?" she said in confusion, all this commotion over the cabin boy?

Then she noticed William's expression, it was a psychotic grin that was only overshadowed by the deranged eyes. His shirt was gone too, revealing a plethora of scars and bruises coating his torso. He had a bottle of alcohol in one hand, and a repeater in the other.

"What in Brimir's name happened to him?" she whispered to the Captain

"He got into the liquor"

"Hey!" William yelled "I know you assholes are talking about me! Say it to my fucking face!"

"He's not William anymore" the Captain muttered, Louise gave him a look of confusion "That much liquor dulls most of his senses until he becomes this guy."

"Oh yeah," William remembered breaking into another grin "This chick doesn't know my name, well fuck lady..."

"...the name's Willard."

* * *

Edmund felt it again.

At first he had dismissed it, but now he could no longer deny the implications of this feeling.

Someone found their way through the gateway that shouldn't have.

Edmund supposed he should've taken the feeling more seriously the first time around, in a school of mages there'd be at least some curious enough to sneak on board.

He had procured a horse and was currently traveling to the nearest city, using info he'd gathered from one of the servants. Gauldfre and the mechs were keeping up on foot, all of them were simply too big for simple horses to carry. Edmund didn't have time for dealing with horrifically crippled horses.

He looked back at the twitchy mech, it was keeping pace at what could almost be described as a skip. There was no doubt in Edmund's mind that the mech had been damaged in some way when he shot it. He made a mental note to research a stronger faceplate material. The real question was in what way was it was damaged and how much. It had been functioning properly if not for the strange 'behavior' it was exhibiting.

Yes, he'd said 'behavior'. That was the problem with glitch robots, they had the possibility of developing independent behavior which was dangerous if left unchecked. He couldn't enslave them. No, then he'd end up just like the noble dogs did.

Glitch robots were so complicated to deal with, but they had their uses as well.

He'd have to run a test, just to make sure that this wasn't just a temporary problem.

"You there" he said to the mech, which looked up at him expectantly "Something's going on in my part of the ship, I want you to go figure out what it is and resolve it if possible."

The mech nodded it's head furiously before spinning on it's heels and dashing back the way it came.

As it ran, Edmund noticed that it was running at a speed none of his other makes could even compare to.

* * *

"Familiar!" Louise yelled in a mix of confusion and anger "Tell me what's going on right now!"

"William's got a mental deficiency that causes him to experience behavior similar to that of a completely different individual" the Captain said without missing a beat "This, however, is mainly caused by overdoses of Alcoholic beverages that act as triggers for the deficiency. This alternate personality also happens to be a raving lunatic who likes being called Willard, anything else you wish to ask?"

Louise stared at him, trying to make sense of his words. "I'm not quite sure what you just said, but I think I get it." she shook her head " Why and how in the Founder's name were you speaking like that."

"Hey don't judge me!" the Captain hissed "Ever since I asked Edmund the first time years ago he's been drilling that monologue into my head."

"Don't you fucking ignore me!" Willard roared at them.

"You!" Louise shouted as she got out from behind the table, ignoring the Captain's pleas to stay down "As you're master I order you to stop it with this nonsense!"

Willard put a hand to his chin as he thought "Yeah, see that's not gonna work honey" Willard said with a sly grin " the only girls I've ever called master were the ones who had their hands on my penis!"

Louise froze at Willard's graphic use of Language while the Captain viciously bit into his own lip.

"H-how dare you!"

"Tell you what! You get on your hands and knees and beg" he said before unceremoniously humping the air "and I might give you the satisfaction of riding this meat-train over here!"

The Captain broke before Louise did. He rushed out from behind cover with rage embedded in his features.

"Damnit Willard!" the Captain said pointing at the still thrusting lunatic "I told you if I ever heard your fucking insults again I would bash your face into a toilet seat!"

"Insult?" Willard looked confused " But Captain AssGrabber, I was simply commenting the pink-haired woman on her succulent, molestable child-like frame."

While the Captain and Louise both prepared to release unholy hell on him, Willard turned as if something had grabbed his attention. He smiled as two thin and shirtless men wearing odd looking masks dragged a bound woman to him. She wore shorts and a striped shirt with a bandana on her head, simple pirate attire. The bandana hid the top of her blonde hair and she looked at Willard with fear and disgust showing through her blue eyes.

"Claire!" Willard said as he let his alcohol drenched hand run across the girl's face "I see you joined the party!"

"William if you're in there, I want you to know I will do horrific things to you after this shithead is gone!" Claire yelled as one of the masked men grabbed a breast in his hand

"Now guys I would love to join your little party," Willard said before dancing over to the door behind them "but I've got a doorway to tear open!"

And with that Willard ran out the door with sick laughter trailing behind him.

The masked men jostled Claire a bit as they looked down at the Captain and Louise in humor.

"Who are those guys?!" Lousie asked silently

"Willard's boys, like to call them grievers, no matter how many times we beat them down they always come back one way or another." the Captain said with anger lining his words " Bastards who want the insane life that Willard provides, they must have stowed away on board before you brought us here."

"Hey Cap'n Cap'n gonna watch us have fun!" One of the grievers said as he slipped a hand in Claire's bra.

The Captain slowly inched toward one of the tables and picked up a broken piece of wood.

"Hey Cappie Cappie!" the other one growled "Gonna let us fool around with the little one too?"

With lightning speed the Captain threw the piece of wood, it smashed against the head of the left griever's head while the other's thankfully slow mental capacity tried to catch up with the occurring situation. Claire swung around and brought her knee directly into his groin. He howled in pain as Claire pulled her arms above her head and twisted them to her front.

The griever looked up just as she grabbed him by the neck and through him off the overhang. The Captain ran and jumped, sending both of his feet directly into the Griever's chest as he fell. The griever flew into the wooden wall behind him and slid to the ground unconscious.

"Animals." he spat before motioning towards the stairs "Come on Louise, time you met our residential medic."

* * *

"Where do you think this thing leads?"

The doorway had led to a twisting and turning corridor. In fact, it seemed to extend right past the ship's structural boundaries. Kirche and Tabitha had been walking for Founder knows how long. The hallway had seemed to change texture after they entered the doorway, it was made out of thick metals and they had just begun getting antsy from anticipation. They made another turn and froze, a bit down the corridor was a man.

The man was tall, and he seemed to be working on the wall, a panel was open and sparks were spewing from it. He was dressed in a full orange one piece and thick leather and metal boots. Even from far away he seemed pale and bald.

Tabitha and Kirche had no other way to go, so they slowly approached him as cautiously as can be. When they were still six yards away the man noticed them. He turned towards them and looked at them with pale, glowing eyes. They froze as the man stared at them for a bit. Tabitha had just started chanting a spell to incapacitate him when he turned away. Ignoring their presence completely, the man went back to working on the panel.

They inched past him as he worked. Once they were clear, they picked up the pace. Several more twists and turns later, they began hearing loud sounds echoing down the corridor. At the end was a set of stairs that let up to a set of trapdoors. Light was leaking in through the seem in-between the doors. They could hear a loud booming voice coming from the other side.

"What do you think Tabitha?" Kirche asked

"...Risky..."

"I know that but there's no other-"

Kirche stopped when she heard the Clanking sound. The two mages slowly turned to see the man from before walking toward them sluggishly. In his hand was something that looked like a metal club. The man seemed to be looking past them, his glowing eyes focused on the doors.

"Tabitha, what should we-?"

Kirche was cut off as Tabitha grabbed her and pressed both of them against the side of the corridor. The man lumbered past and Tabitha gestured for them to follow. The man pushed open the doors and stomped out with Tabitha and Kirche trailing behind him.

_"What's so important about this 'doorway' anyway?" _

_Louise, Claire and the Captain had been running through the ship's interior when her curiosity had taken hold. The Captain glanced back without stopping, before looking forward and sighing._

_"You remember how Edmund said he was familiar with the whole Multiverse thing?"_

Kirche peeked past the large man's figure and gasped, they were in a cathedral of some sorts. It had sturdy wooden pews with people lowering their heads in prayer, they didn't seem to notice the two mages hiding behind the strong man. A loud, booming voice tore into existence once more.

** "So rejoice my family!" It roared "We live in Saint Cross' Utopia!"**

Some of the praying people noticed them and began staring at the girls.

**"What's this?" the voice lowered slightly "Is it more Pilgrims journeying to our holy city?"**

The cathedral seemed too high, much too high. Light streamed in through large colored windows.

The man suddenly made a turn, causing Tabitha and Kirche to lose their temporary cover. Once the full image was in sight, they both went rigid. On the alter of the church was a large contraption that had hundreds of thick and thin wires crisscrossing each other. Each of those wires were connected to what looked like a man. He had a smile on his face, and metal plating covering large portions of his face. He wore blue and grey robes and his lower body ended in a mesh of wires.

He waved his arms extravagantly gesturing to the cathedral.

**"Welcome pilgrims! Saint Cross must have-" **he stopped when he noticed their attire, his face contorted into one of grotesque hate "**Mages."**

At that the surrounding people gasped at the two nobles.

**"Saint Cross warned us that you'd come here to taint our utopia you heathens."**

Kirche reacted the best way she knew how "Look I'm so sorry we interrupted your little group meeting here" she said while trying to look as cute and helpless as possible "But if you could just look the other way-"

**"Seize them!" **Wire man said **"We must purge ourselves of their devil craft!"**

The Wire man pulled out a pad from his robe and brushed his fingers across it several times. Afterwards, a few side doors opened up and more tall men in single piece uniforms began lurching out towards them. Kirche gulped nervously as she and Tabitha began chanting.

* * *

"What did you just say."

The shopkeeper gulped in response to the sudden hostility from the man who was holding the golden sword in front of him.

"Uh f-five thousand sir..." the shopkeeper tried desperately not to look at the intimidating golems that stood on either side of his customer.

Edmund looked at the shopkeeper "I hope you don't expect me to bet my life on this inefficient little decoration"

"Decoration?!" the Shopkeeper exclaimed "This is my finest sword!"

"It's only use is being hung above fireplaces" Edmund deadpanned "In a battle this thing would get its user killed quicker than the enemy."

"But-!"

"Whoa there partner!"

Edmund turned to see Gauldfre holding onto a rusty sword and for a minute thought that the giant had actually spoken. Edmund's eyes went wide, that was the voice the legends spoke of? It didn't sound too amazing."

But alas it was not to be...

"I haven't been wielded by hands like these in a while!" the sword spoke "Nice to be in the company of an actual fighter for once!"

Edmund felt a twinge of annoyance, now even bloody weaponry spoke more than Gauldfre.

"Oh shut up Derf!" the shopkeeper yelled "Don't go chasing off anymore customers!"

"Stuff it you dirty rat" the sword dully replied before somehow brightening "Hey partner, how about you toss some gold over the counter and take me with you! It'd beat getting melted down for this guy's cheap weapons any day."

"Sir, how long have you had a talking sword in your possession?" Edmund said as he studied the blade "And why hasn't anybody been told about it?"

"Who, Derflinger? Well I didn't really think it was a big-"

"A sentient sword is not a big deal to you?" Edmund asked, the shopkeeper averted his eyes from the horrific accusing glare.

Edmund looked at the shopkeeper for a few seconds "Gauldfre, please take the sword outside" Gauldfre complied.

"Hey!" the shopkeeper shouted before running after them "You haven't paid for-!"

One mech blocked his path, giving the other one space to restrain him.

The mech pressed him against the counter, Edmund walked up to him.

"Prep the Endoskeleton" Edmund said to the other mech.

"What are you doing!" he yelled, suddenly very frightened.

Edmund pulled out a scalpel and smirked "Franchising"

**Outside...**

"So, you mind telling me who the old fella is?" Derflinger asked.

Gauldfre looked down at the sword, he wondered if the curse would effect an inanimate object. He was almost tempted to reply when the screaming started. It came from the blacksmith. Gauldfre and Derflinger stood in silence as the screams got louder over time. They got more horrific, more guttural, more animalistic. Gauldfre looked around, the only other people here were the three passed out drunks in a nearby alley. After what seemed like hours, but had really only been 6 minutes, the door opened.

The mechs came out first, covered in blood and gore. Then Edmund who was similarly covered in the evidence of a grisly event.

The shopkeeper came out next, looking better than ever. Edmund turned around and shook his hand.

"Pleasure doing business with you," the Shopkeeper said with a smile "Oh and you can keep the sword."

The shopkeeper entered his store and closed the door.

"What in the heck did you do to him partner?" Derflinger asked cautiously as Edmund approached

"Don't worry about it." Edmund stated "We need to clean ourselves up. Swor- Derflinger, we're going to have a long chat."

* * *

"What do we do Tabitha!?" Kirche yelled in desperation. The spells they were using did absolutely nothing to the large men. They literally slid off or broke on them, and their were more coming from the woodwork.

The Wire man and the church-goers were cheering at the spectacle, crying for blood. At this point Tabitha noticed something, one of the closer hulking men looked odd. While the others were lumbering about, this one looked like he was creeping cautiously with his pale eyes narrowed. While the others were wearing an assortment of orange, grey and white, this one wore dark blue. As he got closer, Tabitha saw him reach down to a holster strapped to his waist. Tabitha quickly analyzed the situation, and quickly shot toward him the minute he unclasped the holster. Maneuvering through the swinging arms of the nearby hulks, Tabitha swung her staff in an upward motion just as the gunner took aim with a familiar piece of metal.

It knocked the Boxman repeater up, out of his grasp. Tabitha then launched herself back and rolled under the grab of another one of the large men. She quickly got to her feet as the Repeater began to make its descent. The blue man growled in anger and charged at her, knocking several other men out of his way. Tabitha reached up and felt the repeater fall into her hand. She then leveled the repeater toward the charging man and held her breath before firing.

The bullet shot from the repeater and dug into the blue man's face. It caved in his nose and left eye before pulling itself out the back of his head. The momentum carried his body backwards, into several more hulking men.

"Get off me!"

Tabitha turned to see Kirche struggling to break free of one of the hulking men by beating at him desperately with her wand. Another breath and a pulled trigger sent a round into his torso, knocking him to the ground. Tabitha turned to see a door open and another hulk entering through it. Tabitha motioned to Kirche before running toward him. The hulking man looked up just as a bullet tore a sizeable chunk of his neck out.

Tabitha leaped toward him, sending enough momentum forward to send both of them to the ground. Kirche let Tabitha fire a round into the mass of hulking men behind them before slamming the door shut. Tabitha had tried to remember exactly how Edmund had used the repeater back when he was showing off, everything else had been exactly like a flintlock in execution, but she knew that eventually she'd have to find out how to reload the thing.

The door they'd entered led to a large stairwell that they hastily ascended in order to outpace the hulks. At the third floor of the stairwell they heard something above them and looked up to find a group of the blue dressed hulks descending toward them. Tabitha and Kirche entered the nearest door and instantly found themselves in a large hallway that had its walls dotted with doors. Tabitha noticed one of the doors was open and instantly dragged Kirche in before slamming it shut behind them. They proceeded to pile anything that wasn't bolted to the floor against the door.

Part-way through the process, a voice interrupted them.

"Ah shit."

They booth turned to see a small dirty mech looking up at them in fear. Tabitha instantly raised the repeater when the mech spoke.

"Please don't hurt Grotto!" the mech said holding up it's hands "Grotto just trying to...Um...Pay bills!. Yes, many bills Grotto must pay!"

Tabitha hastily surveyed their surroundings. The nearby murky blue window was open with a broken lock, the mech held a jingling sack, and it just so happened to be standing next to a busted safe that was slid partially out of a metal desk.

"...Stealing..."

"No No!" the Mech said "Grotto not stealing, Grotto um... Researching!"

"I didn't know golems could be terrible liars." Kirche said amused

"Grotto no golem, Grotto is Grotto."

Their dialogue was interrupted by the sudden pounding of fists on the door. The mech, Grotto, winced as if someone had physically punched him.

"You brought Clankers?!" Grotto said in fear as he backed up toward the window "Clankers will eat Grotto!"

Before anyone could argue how they were going to go about eating the small metal mech, his bag got torn open as it got snagged on the edge of the desk.. Papers, files, metals, and what looked like small metal contraptions all spilt to the floor. Grotto panicked and began desperately trying to pile the stuff back into the ruined sack while the hulking men brought down unholy fury on the metal door. The paper were in an odd language, but while Tabitha began looking for a way out of the situation she noticed something. On one of the papers was a picture of the wire man, and among the confusing words was the name Father Deimos. Before she could investigate this further the mech finally screamed.

"No time! No time for Grotto!" Grotto picked up one of the small contraptions, letting it expand into what resembled small rod with a hook, before running to the window "Grotto doesn't want to be eaten!"

And before they could stop him, Grotto leaped through the window. Tabitha and Kirche ran over before everything seemed to freeze, they were in a city...

... It was a massive city made of stone and metal, it seemed to stretch on for miles. The architecture was exquisite and there were lights everywhere. The Cathedral seemed to be the center-piece of the city, rising high above everything else. Looking around, the girls realized the city was encompassed by a massive dome that radiated an amber that cast the city in a nighttime scene. From their position, they could see many shapes moving around in the city below.

"By the founder..." was all Kirche was able to get out as they took in the view.

"Grotto doesn't want to be eaten!"

The girls looked down to see Grotto sliding along a large cable that was attached to the building. He was using that small trinket which he clung to desperately as he zipped along. There seemed to be a network of the cables crisscrossing the larger buildings.

They were broken from their observations when one of the hulking men smashed a fist through the door. Tabitha looked around until her eyes landed on Grotto's torn sack, one of those trinkets was left.

Tabitha pointed out the trinket and Kirche nodded, this really was the only option they could come up with on the spot. Kirche grabbed the trinket and let it extend in her hands. Tabitha held onto Kirche who gripped onto the trinket tightly. Just as the blue men crashed in, they leaped.

* * *

"Finally!"

The Captain, Louise and Claire stood staring at a large metal door.

"There's no way an entire city is behind that thing!" Louise yelled for the umpteenth time.

"Any more screaming will have every Griever in the ship coming after us" the Captain said as he inspected the doorway "Doesn't look like Willard found a way in yet."

"Will you stop ignoring me!" Louise said "Alternate universes are one thing but a city cannot fit inside a single door, especially not one as small as this!"

"Who's the pipsquek anyway Captain?" Claire asked

"She's the mage..."

"I see..." Claire put a hand to her mouth "You didn't..."

"No... I didn't darling." the Captain turned to Louise "Turns out Edmund's got a lot of fans, so many that he needed to build an entire city to house them all. The place is called Crosswire city, pretty fancy name eh love?"

Louise stammered "But...But..."

"He tore into the seems of the multiverse, found the in-between. Built the city with a single passageway in and out, it's pretty self sustainable. It's enclosed in this large bubble **structure** to keep them safe from the emptiness of the in-between, but it's been-"

A piece of wood broke on the Captain's head, Claire and Louise turned to see Willard standing behind him with his crazed smile.

The Captain wobbled in place, his eyes spinning lazily "Well...I do believe I'm losing consciousness darlings..."

And then he fell to the ground in a heap, Claire and Louise turned to see seven Grievers wielding an assortment of blades and small arms. Two of them restrained the girls while the others cheered Willard on

"Well ain't this a treat!" Willard said tossing what was left of the piece of wood away "You guys have no idea how much I hold to hold the boys back in order to follow you."

"You're not getting through that door Willard!" Claire yelled

"Well if I can't have the fucking city then I'm TAKING the goddamn doorway."

Two grievers came forward carrying large amounts of explosives, Claire's jaw fell as they began prepping the doorway

"You psycho!" Claire cried while she squirmed in the Grievers grasp "That much B30 will take down the entire ship, us included!"

"I think it's pretty worth it just to piss off old Eddie" Willard with another swig of Liquor.

"You'll die!"

"What a wonderful day for it too!" Willard said

One of the Grievers gave him a thumb's up "Okay boys!" he said before walking toward the explosives and leaning down while lighting a match "Let's get this show on the road."

Before he could light the explosives an ear-jawing crash captured everyone's attention. As one, everyone turned around looked back down the corridor. There was a large chunk of the ship missing with the sky visible on the other side. A small cloud of debris only partially covered the shaking figure within. Enough of the cloud was sucked out of the ship to reveal the twitchy mech standing there with energy inside it's faceplate glowing brightly.

"Oh crap is 'at one 'a Crosswire's toys?" A griever said raising his cleaver

"Calm do you big baby it's only one... we can take 'em!" another said before a rusty repeater.

The mech watched them all, it then noticed Willard holding a match.

It's entire frame shuddered before it pointed a shaking hand at him. Then the Mech crouched and bounced off the floor at a speed that made him seem like a blur. He bounced off several walls before speeding through the grievers and smashing into Willard. The mech dropped to the floor as Willard fell with a hand clutching his chest.

One Griever took a potshot with his repeater, the bullet grazed the mech's shoulder plate prompting another to charge with his blade drawn. He swung, and the mech reached around to grab the blade midair before pulling the griever into a brutal head-butt that dissipated his mask and crushed his nose inward. The mech tossed the now screaming griever away and turned his attention to the one with the gun. The griever began firing, the mech began bouncing off the walls to avoid the projectiles. He finally came to a stop in front of the gunner who brought the gun up to his faceplate and pulled the trigger.

The resounding -click- made the mech's faceplate glow brighter. The mech tore the gun out of his hands and the griever retaliated by throwing a punch. The mech dodged the swing and impaled the muzzle of the gun through the griever's skull.

Two griever's came at the mech at once wielding a machete and a cleaver, it responded by swinging the now truly dead man by the handle of the repeater. His body smacked into the machete griever and distracted the other, who was then caught by a flying tackle that sent him rolling back. The mech bounced over to the machete griever who rolled the corpse off and tried to raise his blade. The mech grabbed his hand and redirected the blade into his torso. The griever's screams were cut off when the mech tore the blade upwards and through his jaw, bisecting him.

The Cleaver Griever regained his footing and charged at the mech, who simply flipped the machete over and grabbed it by the blade before throwing it. The spinning blade severed the griever's hand. The griever had enough time to look at his now-stump of a hand in confused terror before he was picked up by the mech, who was still shaking with raw energy.

The mech seemed to remember something and turned toward the two Griever's holding Louise and Claire. Coming to a decision they both tossed the girl's away and drew repeaters before firing. The mech pulled the handless griever in front of it and charged. The bullets seemed to sink into the handless griever as the gunner grievers tried desperately to hit the mech.

One gunner griever's repeater clicked empty and as a last ditch resort he threw it at the mech. The mech tossed away the corpse of the handless griever and slid to avoid the bullets of the second gunner griever. It reached one hand up and one to the side and grabbed the gun while simultaneously tearing a clip of ammunition free from a dead griever. In one action it bounced behind the gunner grievers and loaded the repeater. One of them spun around only to come face-to-muzzle wit the repeater. The muzzle exploded, sending a bullet directly into his pupil which dissolved and trailed it while it liquidized a large portion of his brain before exiting out the back of his head.

The other gunner tried to fire at the mech, but it ducked under it while flipping it's own repeater into it's other hand. He grabbed by the muzzle and swung it upward, successfully fracturing a large part of the griever's jaw.

As the last griever fell to the ground the twitchy mech turned towards Willard, who was now standing.

"Heh, got to give it to you pal..." Willard said before coughing up a small amount of blood "... never saw one of Eddie's toy soldier's do any shit like that."

Willard righted himself and picked up his fallen bottle of liquor.

"Too bad Ima have to put ya down."

The twitchy mech made a sound that resembled a hiss. It then bounced off the wall towards Willard, who drained some more of his bottle and flipped it over. Just as the mech appeared fist raised Willard quickly spun out of the way and smashed the bottle of liquor across it's faceplate. The mech bounced away before stopping to wipe the liquor from it's faceplate and turned back to see a knife spinning towards it. The mech leaned out of the way just as a hand grasped it's shoulder plate and a fist barreled toward him. The mech grabbed the fist in it's hand and Willard smirked before letting go of the shoulder plate and drawing a repeater. He aimed it into the cracked hole of the faceplate and pulled the trigger several times before the mech was able to swat him away.

Willard scrambled to his feet and put a boot on the neck of a dead griever. Holding it steady, he reached down and tore the repeater from it's skull and frantically loaded it while the mech began shaking the bullets out of it's head.

"I don't understand," Louise said as she watched "How is a drunken idiot like him as strong as that golem?"

She and Claire were kneeling by the Captain's unconscious body.

"Unlike that wimp William," Claire said while checking the Captain's pupils "Willard's got one hell of a combat sense."

"Mother..." the Captain muttered "Why is the... rum... gone?"

The mech shook out the last bullet just as Willard pulled a large part of viscera from the repeater's mechanism. Willard grabbed both guns and began firing at the mech who began bouncing out of the way. No matter how much combat sense Willard had, he just couldn't keep up with the mech's rapid movements. The mech bounced to a wall right beside Willard who hurried to readjust his aim. He was too late... and the mech launched itself into Willard. They both slid to the adjacent wall and the Mech wrapped it's hands around Willard's neck. Willard used one hand to try and push the mech off, while the other hand pulled out a knife which he jammed into the mech's faceplate. It didn't seem to do anything so he pulled it out and stabbed again. The mech seemed to be little more than annoyed by this and pulled one hand from Willard's neck and bashed him in the stomach.

Willard gasped for breath and the mech picked him up. It walked over to the hole in the ship and held Willard out of it. Willard looked at the mech and winced. The gashes in it's faceplate made it look more like a crudely made face. The gaping hole looked like a smiling mouth with jagged teeth and the holes from his ever so trusty carving knife seemed like eyes that glowed with energy as the mech continued twitching. Willard looked down at the ground that lay god-knows how far below them.

"Hold up-hold up!" Willard choked as he grasped the metal hand that was now keeping him alive "I'm sure we can cut a deal buddy!"

The twitchy mech tilted it's head.

"Yes-yes!" Willard said " How about we go to Crosswire city eh?! Get you a nice new metal armor to show off to all your mechie buddies right?"

The mech raised it's other hand and made a gesture resembling a yawn.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Willard cried "Where's your bloody sense of humor!?"

The mech made another gesture that resembled chuckling.

"Don't you get coy with me metal man!"

"That's enough you two."

Everyone turned to see Edmund flanked by two mechs and an object strapped to his back. Gauldfre stood near watching with his ever-present closed-eye smile.

"I see you've done well..." Edmund said to the mech "... Please restrain the enemy."

The mech nodded furiously before pulling Willard back into the ship, throwing him to the ground and beating him into unconsciousness.

"It's good to see you guys alive" Edmund said before the sight of the Captain slowly raised his hopes "Is the Captain okay?"

"He's not dead you madman." Claire said with a disapproving glare as Edmund visibly deflated.

"I see. Well wake him-"

He was stalled by the sound of machinery working. Everyone now turned to the large metal door which slid open. Behind it was a floating metal ball with metal appendages that resembled an eye. It was flanked by two large dead-eyed men in blue one-piece outfits. The floating ball turned to Edmund and seemed to shake with delight before floating over to him.

**"Saint Crosswire your grace!"** a voice emitted from it **"I have come to request your presence holy one!"**

"Father Deimos, it's a pleasure." Edmund said sophistically "What brings you to this side of the doorway?"

**"Your Lordship! I have failed you!" **Father Deimos's voice seemed to whimper **"I have allowed Heathens into our fair city, we require your assistance holy one!"**

"Blast I knew it." Edmund said before putting his hand on his chin and biting his lip " Willard and the Grievers weren't the original problem in the first place."

**"By the power of Will your holiness!"** Father Deimos chanted **" Save us from the temptation of the heathens dear father!"**

"Why is he speaking of you so highly?!" Louise couldn't help but ask " He makes it seem as if you were God."

Claire visibly sighed, the Captain chuckled in his murky dream world, and Gauldfre immediately began to look uncomfortable.

"Child..." Edmund turned to her slowly "I am God"

* * *

**And scene, what a wonderful way to end a chapter. The usual 'God' banter. Now for a way to end this author's note... let's go 70s.**

**Will William ever return from the pit of depravity known as Willard?**

**Will the secret to the twitchy mech's source of energy ever be explained?**

**Will Edmund reveal his true intentions?**

**Find out these and more in the next installment of The Sky Pirates of Zero Zero-zero-**zero**.**


End file.
